


Captain Soldier

by PanicFOB



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 21:23:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20316232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanicFOB/pseuds/PanicFOB
Summary: You find yourself enjoying the charming company of a man dressed as the Winter Soldier at a Halloween costume party.





	Captain Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> Another one-shot I did for a writing challenge on tumblr. This was a fun one. Hope you like it!

You fiddled with the felt hat perched atop your stiff curled hair. The stockings you were wearing were already driving you mad. The gloves you wore kept trying to slide off your fingers, forcing you to pull them back on tightly every five minutes. You cursed your best friends, Marni and Laurielle, for sealing you to this fate.

Somehow, through Marni’s connections as a publicist, the three of you had ended up at a fancy costume party on Halloween night. There were rumored to be multiple high profile celebrities in attendance. Of course, there wasn’t much of a way to tell who was famous when everyone was dressed as someone else. Most of the people around you were dressed quite sexily, wearing the ‘slutty’ interpretation of whomever they were portraying. You, on the other hand, looked like somebody’s grandmother.

You’d only found out about the party earlier that day, and had absolutely no luck finding anything good at the three different costume shops you had rushed to. By six o’clock, you had called Marni to tell her that you regretfully would not be attending for lack of costume. “Don’t worry, between Laurielle’s and my wardrobes, we can put together something for you,” she had said. “Just make sure to bring those light pink, chunky heels you wear all the time.”

You’d made the dreaded mistake of not asking her what sort of costume they had in mind. When you arrived at her apartment at 7:30, you looked on in horror at the getup they had arranged for you.

“What is it?” you said with a tone of disgust.

“A forties housewife,” Laurielle answered cheerily, as if you should be proud of them for coming up with this monstrosity.

“Let me get this straight. You two are going to this party as a sexy angel and a sexy devil, very original by the way,” you said sarcastically, “and I get to go as a frumpy dame from the war-time era.”

“Oh don’t be so grumpy. It’ll look darling once you put it on.”

But you hadn’t felt any happier about your costume once you looked in the mirror, hand tracing over the dark blue, large beaded necklace draped under the collar of your white button-down blouse. The ghastly blouse was tucked into a pleated skirt that hung just past your knees and was the same color as the necklace. Marni was attacking your hair with a large curling iron.

“Golly, I sure hope I get to meet Brad Pitt looking like this,” you quipped while giving her the stink eye.

“It’s a fun costume party, not a beauty pageant. Just chill, Y/N. I doubt we’ll even get to meet any celebrities anyway.”

“That was your whole selling point for getting me to come in the first place. I might as well just go home now.”

“Don’t even think about it. You’re going to this party, dressed like that, and you’re gonna be happy about it.”

You obeyed her first two commands, but you’d be damned if you were going to obey the third. As it were, you sat next to a large fireplace in whoever’s house the party was being thrown at. Your two friends had supposedly wandered off to get drinks, but that had been fifteen minutes ago. You finally stood from your cozy chair, readjusted your skirt, and headed for where you thought the bar might be. You made an effort to avoid bumping into the drunken hordes of people crowding the hallways, but as you rounded a corner into what ended up being the kitchen, you hadn’t been paying attention and ran right into what felt like a brick wall.

You looked up at the chiseled man standing before you. You were surprised to see him dress up as the Winter Soldier. He wore a long dark wig, had dark makeup smeared around his eyes, and his left arm was coated in silver paint with a red star over his bicep.

“I’m so sorry about that, miss. Are you all right?”

You nodded your head in answer before looking over at the man standing next to him, his friend you assumed. You let out a chuckle as you examined his costume. He wore a pretty realistic version of the suite Captain America had adorned in the Battle of New York. He even had some of those ridiculous red gloves and a helmet, complete with the chin strap. The authenticity was slightly ruined, however, when you noticed long dark hair peeking out underneath.

“I hate to rain on your parade, but there are at least fifteen other Captain America’s here tonight,” you said to him, before turning to the man you had ran into and giving him a flirty smile, “haven’t seen any other Winter Soldiers though.”

He returned the smile and held out his hand, “I’m Steven.”

“Y/N,” you said as you shook it.

The other man offered his hand as well. “I’m James.”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you both. I was just searching for my two friends who have apparently gotten lost in the crowd.” James was already looking away from you, eyeing up some woman across the room, but Steven’s gaze was glued to yours.

“Uh, I’ll just be over there,” James said to his friend before bailing.

“Would you like to get a drink with me until you find your friends?” Steven asked you.

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” you said to him softly. He led you to the bar, which was in the next room over, and you noted that Marni and Laurielle were nowhere to be found.

Once you had both gotten your hands on some cocktails, you found two seats in a quiet area of the room. Steven had a bashful look in his eyes as you sat across from each other.

“I just have to say it, your costume is incredible.” His cheeks were turning pink as the words slipped from his lips.

“You’re joking.”

“No. I love it. It’s very accurate, well if the forties is what you were going for. And it makes you look absolutely gorgeous.”

Now you were blushing like crazy. “Wow, uh, thanks. I can’t take the credit for it, my friends put it together for me.”

“Well, it’s very unique for a costume party like this.”

“So is yours,” you assured him. “You should have told your friend to go with something other than Captain America, though.”

“Not a fan of the Star-Spangled Man?”

“I just think he’s a little over-hyped is all. Like I said, I’ve seen at least fifteen other buffed-up guys dressed as him tonight. And it’s been that way every Halloween since 2012.”

“You don’t think Captain Rogers should get as much credit as he does?”

“I mean, the Avengers is a whole team, all saving the world together, yet he’s the only one they drone on about on the news.”

“They talk about Ironman quite a bit, too.”

“Yeah, but only because he’s rich. They don’t idolize Tony Stark the way they do Steve Rogers.”

“What about Thor? He’s quite idolized by the public.”

“Yeah, but he’s not even on earth half the time, so he doesn’t give the news much to talk about.”

“So really, Captain America should get more credit because at least he’s always here on earth when earth needs saving,” he declared with a smirk.

“What are you, his publicist? Or just a prominent member of his fan club?”

“Definitely neither.”

Before you could make some jest back at him, you felt a hand on your shoulder. “There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Marni shouted behind you. She looked as if she was already quite sloshed.

“Hey, yeah, just hanging out here with Steven.” He nodded his head in greeting at your friend. “Steven this is my best friend Marni. Please excuse her drunken state.”

“We’re heading out to the terrace to play flip cup. You coming with?”

You were terrible at that blasted game. “No, I think I’ll just stay here and chat some more.”

Steven seemed delighted that you were enjoying your conversation with him. Marni disappeared, and the two of you talked for what felt like hours, your cocktails having been emptied long ago, yet you never felt the need to get a refill. Steven’s interesting and flirty banter kept you buzzed enough.

When the two of you finally noticed that the number of party guests had drastically diminished, he held his hand out for you and queried, “Want to get out of here?”

You raised your eyebrows at him, assuming he meant to go back to his place.

His cheeks flushed once again. “No! I didn’t mean it like that,” he rushed to assure you. “I’m really hungry, so I thought maybe we could go to an all-night diner for a bite?”

You didn’t usually do things like this, spend nights on the town with men you’d just met, but maybe this costume was forcing you to embrace your inner forties lady, swooning over a hunky soldier who wants to take you out for a burger and milkshake. “Okay,” you gave him as an answer. And then he was gently holding your hand and sweeping you through each room, on your way out of the party. Once you reached the chilly autumn air, your body involuntarily shivered. Steven sincerely apologized for not having a jacket on him that he could offer you. In an effort to make him feel better, you suggested he walk with his arm around you to warm you up instead.

“Have a specific diner in mind?” you asked him, feeling extra aware of the large palm that rested on your waist and the warm forearm against your back.

“Yeah, I know a good place.” So you followed him through the quiet streets, and at this rate you felt like you might just follow this man anywhere he wanted to go, despite not even knowing his last name or the color of his real hair under that wig.

You briefly wondered if the two of you would ever meet again after this Halloween night, or if the connection would remain perfectly encapsulated in these pleasant hours, never to be bothered again. You honestly weren’t sure which path you preferred. Steven seemed almost too perfect to be real, and you worried that getting his number and finding him out to be a dick later on would put a damper on this entire wistful experience.

The man in question was rattling on about different things he knew concerning the forties; you assumed he was a history nerd. You raised your head in order to meet his eyes and give him a smile, but you noticed something horrible happening in an alleyway behind him.

“Steven, that man has a gun. I think he’s trying to rob that woman.”

For a second, you had to remind yourself that Steven was not actually the Winter Soldier. He had reacted before you’d even finished your sentence, turning around, marching toward the alley, and demanding the mugger drop his gun. When the thief didn’t listen, Steven grabbed the gun from his hand and kicked his ass in record time. During the five seconds of commotion, Steven’s costume wig had fallen off. As he stood there, asking the poor woman if she was all right, you studied his profile and found surprising familiarity in it. You narrowed your eyes at that recognizable head of blond hair. “Oh my god,” you whispered to yourself.

The woman had gone on her way, the mugger remained knocked out in the alley, and Steven returned to your side.

“You complete and utter asshole, Steve Rogers,” you exclaimed while whacking him multiple times with your dark blue handbag.

He held his hands up in surrender. “You recognized me, huh?”

“Kind of hard not to without that wig on. I should have known it was you when you admitted to having a kink for forties housewives.”

You felt incredibly satisfied as embarrassment crossed his face. “I never used the word kink.”

“Right. I think I’ll be leaving now.”

He grabbed your hand to stop you from going. “What? Why?”

“You let me go on for ages about how much I disliked Captain America! To fucking Captain America! What is wrong with you?!”

“Come on. It was cute. And also very refreshing. I’m just as sick as you are of the hero worship, you know. I certainly wouldn’t want to date someone who’s a super fan.”

You froze at his words. “But you want to date me?”

“I thought I made that pretty clear at multiple points throughout the night.”

“Oh…”

He was holding both your hands in his now. “Why don’t we go to that diner, and if you still hate me after a burger and milkshake, then you’ll never have to see my stupid over-hyped face again.”

“Well, I’ll still have to see it on the news,” you pouted playfully.

He smiled for a moment then became more serious. “What do ya say? I really like you, Y/N, and I’ll drag this enchanting night with you out for as long as you’ll let me.” He pulled your right hand up to his face, kissing the back of it softly.

“Fine. There better be fries with that burger though.”

He slipped his arm around you once again. “Of course.”

“So, the friend you were with that was dressed as you?”

He grinned. “Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “Wow, you two are fucking dorks.”

And so your handsome soldier from the war whisked you off to that all-night diner, and the two of you made dopey eyes at each other as you shared a chocolate milkshake.


End file.
